The Terror of Knowing

Welcome one, welcome all, to ‘Emma Remembers Top 5 Wednesdays Exists And Decides To Join In’… again. Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme/challenge which was created by the wonderful Lainey from gingereadslainey and is now overseen by the equally lovely Sam from Thoughts of Tomes. Every Wednesday, participants devise their Top 5 based on a given topic.

This Wednesday’s theme is Books You Want To Read Before the End of the Year. Now I’m sure we all have TBR stacks, TBR shelves on Goodreads, maybe an old-fashioned pen-on-paper list of some books we really ought to get round to, so this isn’t exactly a struggle to put a list together. What is a struggle is limiting it to just 5 choices – but, hey, everyone likes a challenge so without further ado, let’s go…

5. Smoke by Dan Vyleta (x)

I liked the concept of this book (people’s sins or sinful thoughts physically marked on them via the Smoke that emanates from their bodies) so much that I went into an actual bookshop and paid full price for the hardback copy. Well… I used a giftcard but it’s practically the same to me because I very rarely buy a physical book in-person and never when it’s at full retail price. So, financially, I am invested in this book. I was excited with my new purchase. And then I read a bunch of negative reviews on Goodreads and became disheartened. So I desperately need to read this so I don’t start absorbing the reviews and ending up disliking this before even going into it!

4. The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (x)

I read The Queen of the Tearling last year and I loved it. It wasn’t quite fantasy, it wasn’t quite dystopian, it was an intriguing mix of medieval court politics meets social justice meets casual reference to the Harry Potter books. Johansen took quite a standard trope (an exiled/hidden heir to the throne comes forward, sees there’s injustice in the land, fights against it etc. etc.) and did something interesting with it, in my opinion, by focusing on the politics and morality of kingship, or queenship, more rightly. I really need to read the sequel this year, especially since the concluding part of the trilogy (The Fate of the Tearling) will be released at the end of 2016.

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (x)

Remember a few weeks ago when I randomly (read: foolishly) picked this up alongside reading the behemoth that is A Clash of Kings? Well, I finished A Clash of Kings… not so much Anna Karenina. What frustrates me so much about not having read this yet is that I’ve repeatedly picked it up, been pleasantly surprised by how readable it is, got invested in the story, and then just not continued with it. I need to break that streak. I will break that streak, by the end of 2016.

2. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (x)

I loved the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Some of the action and dialogue was of questionable quality but obviously I love a doomed, morally questionable bad guy and some inappropriate romance so obviously I ate this trilogy up. I hear Six of Crows continues in the same Grisha world but has better characters, better plots, and better writing. Do I need more reason to want to read Six of Crows? Well, the sequel Crooked Kingdom will be released next month so clearly I need to read the first book asap.

1. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (x)

Yes, you read that right; after many months of anticipating the final book in the Raven Cycle, I still have not picked it up. I know what my problem is – I don’t want it to end. And so I keep procrastinating. But no more! Somehow I haven’t been spoiled for this book (a miracle in itself because I frequently browse Raven Boys stuff on tumblr) so I’d like to finally just grit my teeth and read this conclusion to the series.

So there we have it – those were the top 5 books I definitely need to read before the end of 2016. Do you have a Top 5 Wednesday list or post of your own? Be sure to link it below if so; I’d love to take a look!

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